I realize I haven’t blogged a lot about my fourth pregnancy. I got off to a little bit of a rocky start with some rather severe depression issues and once I got those all worked out I just tried to enjoy the pregnancy as much as possible. Unfortunately, the doctors office I chose because they were supposedly VBAC friendly was doing nothing but stressing me out after I refused to take the glucose test. I was monitoring my sugar levels using a meter, but I simply didn’t want to ingest the glucose drink. After getting too many bad vibes from … …..

This past weekend the girls and I headed to Amish country with some very good friends. Angela and I became friends shortly after I met Dustin and our kiddos have been friends literally since birth. I absolutely love spending time with them. On this particular day we visited The Farm at Walnut Creek and I will be sharing our experience there in another more detailed post. But after leaving there we headed out for lunch and ended up at Dutch Valley Restaurant – gosh, I love me some Amish grub. Hehe. And to our surprise there was a little festival … …..

If you’ve been hanging around any length of time then you probably know that I absolutely adore squirrels. I really don’t know when or why I started liking them so much, but I just think they are so stinking cute. Heck, I even decorated Willow’s nursery in a squirrel theme! And so a few weeks ago when my sister, Willow, and I attended The Great Trail Festival I stumbled across these handmade squirrel feeders and just had to have one for the tree in the front yard. It came with a corn cob inside and after it hanging on the … …..

I am so excited to have been invited to attend an amazing opportunity touring numerous Ohio State Park Lodges and surrounding activities. And so now through Saturday the hubby and I are on a little press trip and it’s the first time we have been away from all of our kiddos at the same time….. well since having kiddos, hehe. It’s great getting some time to ourselves and experiencing such awesome places in Ohio. I don’t want to share too much just yet, but in honor of Wordless Wednesday here are just a few photos that I took today while … …..

Every mom says it…. but I just can’t believe how fast my girls are growing up. When I started writing this blog my Kaelyn Mae was only a couple months old. And today she attended her first day of pre-kindergarten. How is that even possible? And my oldest had her first day of first grade! I keep asking them to stay little, but they just don’t listen! Now Willow… she was ready to ship her sister’s off for the day. She got mama all to herself for 6 whole hours! And though I missed my big girls lots, it definitely … …..

My Alleigh Jade is one little lucky charm. I swear this girl just glances down at the ground and finds a four leaf clover! I could look for hours and have never found a single one. Have you ever found a four leaf clover?

So things had been going rather well concerning pregnancy symptoms. I had been overly tired, had a few headaches and was really hungry, but other than that things were great. Until a few days ago. I woke up with a really dry feeling in my mouth. Took a few sips of water. And then found myself running for the bathroom. Kaelyn, my 3 year old, ran in and was rubbing my back and got me a cool wash cloth for my head. She told me that she’d take care of me because I always take care of her. Sometimes kiddos … …..

On August 14th 2013 I typed these words at the end of a blog post about Willow’s birth story… And I would be lying if I told you I still wasn’t devastated with how her birth turned out. I would give anything to have that natural birth that I had hoped for. I want that experience so badly and will forever yearn for it. Forever. At that moment in time I truly thought Dustin and I had reached the end of the road in terms of building our family and I was so thankful for the three beautiful girls the … …..

In that first year of life there are so many firsts and each one is as bitter sweet as the last. As they get older the firsts are fewer and farther between, but when one happens it hits you hard. Those are the moments that you realize your baby is really truly growing up. That they aren’t actually a baby anymore. Well, she will ALWAYS be my baby, but she is also a kid… a big kid. That big moment happened for me on February 4th when Alleigh was sitting on the couch and told me “mom, my tooth hurts.” … …..